Energized Dems attack Trump during congressional debate

Friday

DAYTONA BEACH — Unlike Republicans the night before, the three Democrats running for Congress had a distinct pecking order heading into Thursday’s News-Journal debate.

In the District 6 race, Nancy Soderberg was the clear front runner, having raised the most money, leading in the only publicly available poll and even being identified by name by her GOP competitors. Yet with a large number of voters still undecided, the debate presented an opportunity for her opponents, Stephen Sevigny and John Upchurch, to make up ground.

While the two Ormond Beach political newcomers took their best shots, the 60-year-old former White House national security analyst and ambassador didn’t shy away.

″(The Republicans) called me ‘dangerous.’ And that’s because the Republicans are scared of me,” Soderberg said. ”... I’ve taken on terrorists and dictators around the world. I’ve gone through a tough divorce. I’ve pulled myself up, dusted myself off and kept going. I’m a woman. I’m accomplished. And I’m fearless. And the Republicans are scared of me because they know I can win this seat.”

It was one applause line among many during a night when Democrats displayed energy unlike any recent races in the district covering Volusia and Flagler counties, as well as portions of St. Johns and Lake. An estimated 500 people packed the Daytona State College News-Journal Center for the 90-minute debate.

Sevigny and Upchurch had their moments, too.

Sevigny separated himself from the other two when he promised to work toward a $15-per-hour minimum wage, and unlike Soderberg and Upchurch, he didn’t dismiss the notion of backing Nancy Pelosi as House Speaker should Democrats win back the House.

“I will support any candidate who makes health care the top priority,” Sevigny said. “If that’s Nancy Pelosi, so be it.”

Upchurch and Soderberg said they believe Democrats need new leadership.

“I think Nancy (Pelosi) is part of the problem in Washington,” Upchurch said, citing her long tenure and connections to special-interest money. And he tweaked Soderberg a bit, saying he was surprised Pelosi wouldn’t be her choice, since Soderberg has received much greater campaign funding from Washington insiders like former Vice President Joe Biden and Clinton adviser Paul Begala.

Soderberg said she’s proud to have the support of her former Washington colleagues.

Moderator and News-Journal editor Pat Rice asked what the candidates would tell President Trump if they had 90 seconds with him one-on-one.

Upchurch said he would tell Trump he’s dividing the country.

“Telling the people within a crowd that, ‘You can punch him in the face and I will pay the legal bills,’ is not acceptable,” Upchurch said. “I want a leader of my country that I can respect, that I can turn on the TV and have my kids watch without having to worry about what is next. Is it a Stormy Daniels coming through?”

“I talk truth to power unlike how he talks to Putin,” Upchurch said. “We have right now a Russian spy as our president.”

Sevigny earned perhaps the night’s loudest laugh line.

“First, I’d try to convince (Trump) that I’m part of his family. That’s the only type of people that he’ll listen to,” he said.

“I would just try to explain to him on a daily basis the damage that he’s doing to this country,” Sevigny added, referencing his three children and saying he doesn’t want to raise them in an environment where “it’s normal to lie, it’s normal to degrade people.”

Said Soderberg: “I would tell him to take time out of his rallies and the next time he comes to Florida, and instead of campaigning for his chosen candidate, sit down with the young girl ... who can’t afford her diabetes medication. Meet the mother of a daughter who’s committed suicide because she couldn’t get mental health care. Talk to the family that has to choose between their prescription drugs or putting food on the table. ... And take ownership of the division and hatred you’re sowing in this country.”

Like in the Republican debate Wednesday, Democrats also addressed the question of residency and local ties, although the rhetoric wasn’t nearly as sharp-elbowed.

Upchurch, a 48-year-old Ormond Beach attorney and business owner who stresses his civic involvement, said it matters that the 6th District deliver someone who’s a longtime resident. From Corrine Brown to Ron DeSantis, Upchurch said Volusia County has had representatives who failed to make the area their top priority, while projects like SunRail have languished and FEMA hurricane relief funds have been slow in returning.

“We need somebody who at the end of their service is going to come back proud of all of the accomplishments that helped the citizens of the district,” Upchurch said.

Sevigny, a 50-year-old radiologist who has built his campaign around health care and bringing decency back to public policy, pointed to infrastructure needs surrounding downtown Daytona Beach, from the nearly 60-year-old Main Street Bridge to the crumbling stretch of East International Speedway Boulevard and the Beach Street flooding.

Neither man directly placed Soderberg in that category, but she owns a home in Jacksonville and only moved last year into a rented place just inside the District 6 boundaries, in Crescent Beach in St. Johns County.

“Like a lot of people in this district, I wasn’t lucky enough to be born here. But I was smart enough to move here in 2004,” she said, apparently in reference to Jacksonville.

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